By George Perry

Part of the vision of MachineFair is to create work that is intellectually stimulating,  emotionally truthful and accessible.   With their Toronto production of Biographies of the Dead & Dying, audiences can expect to witness a perfect shot, a bull’s-eye.  The play is currently onstage in Toronto at Factory Theatre Mainspace as part of Summerworks.

At first the set is nearly empty.  There is only a comfortable old chair, a rug and a small table for a phone.  Soon though, the stage is spilling over with the presence of Alice and Jack.

Alice, a "one-hit chick lit" author, is brought to life magnificently by Aviva Armour-Ostroff.  She is suffering from writer’s block and has rented a house on Vancouver Island from Jack. 

Jeff Meadows is equally brilliant.  He plays both Jack and Alice’s ex-husband, John.  He is so good that I wasn’t sure that it was the same person playing two roles at first.

Continue reading Biographies of the Dead & Dying (MachineFair) 2010 Summerworks Review →

by Dorianne Emmerton

A keyboard stands in a corner manned by a dapper fellow in white face and a bowler hat. In the other corner is what appears to be an armchair covered by an old paint-spattered drop cloth. Seated in it from the minute you enter the theatre is a pre-set old man. This is Loving the Stranger or how to recognize an invert by Ecce Homo Theatre.

Having seen him you expect the old man to begin the show, to speak once the house lights fade. Instead the musician in the other corner starts playing and a white-faced blond woman in a Nazi outfit, playing a child, starts to sing before setting off on a pro-fascist rant.

Brecht would probably be very pleased at how Ecce Homo is keeping his mode of theatre alive and vibrant. As long as he didn’t mind a whole lot of gay male content, at least. Continue reading Loving the Stranger or how to recognize an invert – 2010 Summerworks Review →

by Dorianne Emmerton

Even Darkness is Made of Light (Not My Pig, Not My Farm Productions) is a one woman play about suicide. This sounds like my own personal theatre festival hell. Instead, this show was like a little bit of heaven.

Edwidge Jean-Pierre is a force of nature. It’s impossible not to pay her your full attention when she’s onstage playing Carrie, or any of the number of characters who interact with her. Besides Carrie she also plays Carrie’s love interest Carlos, her psychiatrist, her geography teacher, her sister and her school friends. Continue reading Even Darkness is Made of Light – 2010 Summerworks Review →